Travel changed her life and now Ayumi wants to influence others
Travel changed her life and so now the former office worker absolutely wants to share it with her Japanese followers and soon, an international audience. Meet Ayumi Amemiya, who calls herself a luxury backpacker and runs her own travel website to inspire others to travel.
Ayumi was an office wor [...]
Letter from Green Acres & The Habitat, Penang: Where the grass is indeed greener and nature richer
“I think something’s changed,” said Eric Chong, owner of Green Acres, an eco-resort built within a durian orchard in Penang. “Our occupancies have doubled since last year. I think travellers are really looking for different, authentic experiences.”
Where are they coming from, I asked.
[...]
Inside Inge De Lathauwer’s passion project: Changing lives in Sumba and proving a sustainable model in hospitality can pay off
Sumba Hospitality Foundation was one of the startups that qualified for a grant from Booking Booster, the Booking.com programme that supports social enterprises. With the 100,000 Euro funds, it hopes to boost profitability at its eco-resort so that eventually it can support the school that prepares [...]
Trip.com’s Lynn Qu on going global and building a super travel app
A year into her role as vice president, product and marketing for Trip.com, and Lynn Qu is taking her experience working for brands such as Microsoft, Expedia and HomeAway (now Vrbo) to take the Ctrip group brand global and using the Chinese edge in native app development to build a super travel ap [...]
Cruise industry gets boost
The cruise industry has received a boost with a cruise-specific mobile solution designed to assess the English language skills of applicants looking to work in the cruise industry.
Singapore-based Boost, a mobile training solutions provider for the hospitality industry, and CTI Group [...]
Travelstart to acquire Club Travel Group in bid to create full-service African travel entity
Following its change in investor from MTN to HarbourVest in late May, Amadeus Capital Partners-backed Travelstart has made the first of an expected series of acquisitions in its bid to own Africa – this week, it announced it is buying 100% of the Club Travel Group.
Travelstart’s CEO Stephan [...]
To win in corporate travel today, you need a tech edge
FCM's chief for Asia Bertrand Saillet speaks to Yeoh Siew Hoon on how it is blending best of online and offline in Asia by investing in new tech to enhance the traveller experience and taking lessons from its parent company's retail model.
There was a time in corporate travel that when you asked [...]
Meet the man who wants to change the way governments look at tourism in Asia
Ang Choo Pin left the world of politics and diplomacy to join travel because he saw an opportunity to make an impact in an industry that he believes is truly a force for good. Yeoh Siew Hoon catches up with Expedia Group’s senior director for government and corporate affairs for Asia to find out [...]
A Bird’s Eye View: What will OTA 4.0 look like?
I guess if someone had been asked 20 years ago what an OTA 1.0 might look like, few people would have the answer – until Booking.com and Expedia did it in 1996 and Ctrip followed in 1999, and showed the way.
It’s a testament to these three that two decades on, they are still on top of their [...]
New investor in Travelstart gives it access to funds to own Africa
"We can now do the deals we want to do," says CEO Stephan Ekbergh
Travelstart, Africa’s leading online travel company, has taken on a new investor in the form of global private markets investment firm HarbourVest in a move that CEO Stephan Ekbergh says gives it access to capital to realise it [...]
